Same Story, Different Storyteller

By: Nick Rodham Churchill

For those of you who don’t [shockingly] follow Australian politics, arguably the biggest political kung fu in years took place one week ago today.  Kevin Rudd, the once most popular Prime Minister (PM) in Australian history was ousted by his Deputy, the brilliant and masterful Julia Gillard.  It was a brilliant execution (the whole thing unfolded in less than 12 hours) and the first of it’s kind; Kevin Rudd was still a first-term Prime Minister and ousted not by the Opposition, but by HIS OWN PARTY.

The reasons given were simple.  K-Rudd, has he was called, had been straying off course.  It was a government that had “lost its way.”  True, the evidence was there.  in 6 months K-Rudd had tanked in the polls faster than almost any PM in history.  A general election loss was at stake against the Liberals, which would have meant a horrific change of course.  A few recent decisions really hadn’t gone over well with the public, and K-Rudd was pretty terrible when it came to dealing with the media.

Okay, so Special K is out, big J Gill is in.  First, history is made.  First female Prime Minister.  Woohoo!  Next, major policy changes, right?  Not so much.  Immediately we heard there would be changes to the mining tax, the most controversial leftover from Mr. Rudd.  Oops, not so fast.  The government is just “swinging open its doors” to negotiation.  Certainly we’d refocus other key issues.  Instead, it’s all about “consultations” and “new approaches,” but not a whole lot of change in terms of real policy (most of which J Gill was central in creating with Captain K).

Regardless, the press and the country seem to be eating up every last word, believing wholeheartedly that this is a “new direction” for the party, the government, and the country.  So then, what changed?  The spin.  The packaging.  The perception of reality is what changed.  All it took was a new face and a thesaurus and BOOM, a “brand new day.”  You do have to take your hat off to Madame Prime Minister though.  In one foul swoop she cut off the past, reinvent the present, spin the futre, and creat a whole new headache for the opposition.  Well done Julia.  Well done.

Photo Courtesy of: http://images.theage.com.au/2009/01/02/338501/gillard-420×0.jpg

Why I Hate: The Fake Mission To Mars

By: Nick Rodham Churchill

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for space programs.  In fact, when President Obama spoke seriously about completely handing over NASA to the private sector (a move that would have promoted the commodification, commercialization, and ownership of space and space exploration) I spent weeks attempting to convince friends that it was a bad idea (their argument being that America is broke, so space should go).  The problem with space exploration is that it’s intangible for most people.  The “real returns” are difficult to see, but the intangible, emotional, subconscious “bang for your buck” is literally invaluable for people and for society.

Having mapped our entire planet and worked tirelessly to make it uninhabitable recently (BP Oil Spill, Climate Change Denial, etc.), space is something that has the potential to leave us inspired, hopeful, and believing there is more to life than what lies before us.  It’s mysterious, adventurous, and unknown.  With an annual price tag of just under $20 Billion (compared to the Defense Department’s $660 Billion), I’m wondering how we can really afford to cut the budget at all.

Still, I’m kind-of hating this fake mission to mars at the minute.  Why?  Because it denigrates the mystery, the adventure, the legitimacy, and the grandeur of space travel.  This may comes as a shock since I am so pro space, but this “project” is not pro-space in the slightest.  Despite every attempt to spin the story to “prep work for a visit to Mars,” the sponsoring countries have neither the finances nor the technology to actually get there.  The real spin is that the applications to participate were sent out globally and anyone could apply (by anyone, I mean MEN ONLY, as women were not allowed to participate).  You did not have to have any special skills.  In fact, the “flight captain” has never flown a plane before.  Good one.

What is the simulation, you ask?  These six men are going to be locked into a small corrugated metal shack with no windows for 519 days somewhere in downtown Moscow.  They won’t experience weightlessness or radiation, which are the two biggest hurdles.  They will, however, be given video games and the internet (which they would obviously have on their way to Mars).  They have to figure out how to ration their food and will be in constant contact with a “control center.”  To be honest, it sounds like a space-themed extended version of “Big Brother.”  In fact, one of the coordinators of the project said the following:

“Imagine them all flying off to Mars together.  At first they are friends, concentrating on the mission. But then one lands on Mars while the others wait … Jealousy and conflicts flare up on the way home.”

I mean, WHAT?  This just sounds like more fodder for celebrity magazines like In Touch and Hello.  “Oh my gosh, did you see last night’s episode of Space Shack: Mars Edition?”  Yeah, Eddie got so mad at Bobby for using the internet longer than his allocated hour so he BROKE one of the Wii remotes.  Now how are they going to exercise?!?!”

I hate it.  I really really hate it.

Why I (Would) Hate if the Coalition Government Fails…

By Maggie Palin

I’ll admit—I’ve personally been a bit skeptical of the new Coalition government since its inception last month. As a Conservative at heart, it has been exciting for me to see David Cameron become Prime Minister and watch the Conservative MPs in Westminster sit once again on the Government benches. But as a follower of Adam Smith’s laissez-faire economic philosophy, the tax reforms and proposed reductions to the size of Government that Cameron needed to cede to Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats to form a coalition does worry me. And if I’m worried about this, I can only wonder what other Tory voters from the mold of Maggie Thatcher think as well.

It’s probably too premature to discuss this, and hopefully it turns out to be just an image in the back of my mind and not actual reality, but I have to ask myself—and you alike—what would happen if the Coalition government does fail. Yes, we’re just in the early days of the new government and Cameron’s just had his first PMQs merely a few hours ago. But we do have to remember that history has a funny way of repeating itself. If the coalition fails, and another election is called, it will leave a blemish on David Cameron and the Conservative Party’s legacy in the twenty-first century that may not be insurmountable in another poll.

Let’s flash back a year in time when the Conservatives were winning 45 percent in the polls. Had a snap election been called back then, the party would have then had the requisite seven percent swing to win 325 seats in Westminster and control the Government outright. Yet this did not happen. And instead, while the Conservatives managed to win the largest share of the vote in last month’s election, they were forced to share power with the Liberal Democrats in order to form a Government.

So if this coalition does not work, will Cameron have to relinquish his title? How will the swing fall—will it fall in favour of the Tories, or perhaps bring Gordon Brown’s successor to 10 Downing Street. Now that Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have some power, what impact will they have on the electoral landscape in future elections? All of this is yet to be seen, but I can say with some certainty that for a party that had hoped to coronate its fearless leader in style last month, this Coalition Government is not the outcome for which we hoped and will hopefully be the start of a new era in British politics, and not the end of the Conservative party as we know it.